水乳大地《Fascinating look at multicultural Tibet》

Nowadays in China and in the West the history of Tibet is oversimplified. The Chinese government wants to prove that Tibet has always belonged to China; many in the West see China as an exploitive neo-colonial power in Tibet.

Both of these views tend to make us forget that Tibet like almost any other region in the world has long been somewhat multi-ethnic and its people have been exposed to different peoples religions and ways of life.

I am not sure how historically accurate "Shuiru dadi" is since it is a piece of fiction and I know little about Tibetan history. But I am reading it now in Chinese (Feb 2009) and enjoying the interaction between native Tibetans French missionaries Han officials and even the Naxi whom I had only previously encountered in Yunnan.

The scenes in which the Dongba shamans Buddhist monks and others call upon their gods to protect them and strike out against their enemies make for great reading...